Falk, 48, a longtime executive with The Chronicle and the former San Francisco Newspaper Agency, was previously the paper's president, associate publisher and chief operating officer.

Falk assumes the helm of The Chronicle at a time when newspaper advertising has declined dramatically, especially in Northern California.

"The challenge today is to fix the business of The Chronicle," Falk said. "It's a challenging time in Northern California for all newspapers."

The Chronicle has a circulation of 512,129 papers daily and 539,563 on Sunday.

In addition to promoting Falk, the paper named Gary Randazzo, formerly vice chairman and associate publisher, as executive vice president and general manager. He will oversee advertising, circulation and production operations.

Phil Bronstein, formerly senior vice president and executive editor, was named executive vice president and editor.

In addition to his current duties overseeing the newsroom, Bronstein will assume responsibility for the newspaper's editorial and commentary pages, which had been overseen by the publisher.

Oppedahl joined the paper in November 2000, when Hearst took operational control of The Chronicle and merged its staff with that of the formerly Hearst- owned San Francisco Examiner.

In a meeting with the newsroom staff, Falk said Oppedahl had brought a long background as a journalist to the role of publisher.

"He came when we needed to bring together two newsrooms," Falk said, and to lead an effort to remake the Sunday newspaper.

Oppedahl accomplished his mission, he said. "Now we move on to phase two. . . . We have to focus on the business."

Falk said the paper's help-wanted advertising has dropped precipitously since the dot-com boom ended.

"I don't think a lot of that revenue will return," he said. "We'll have to get creative in other areas."

He said The Chronicle will "look at new products and services" and pointed to the paper's new weekly Wine section as an example.

"The financial situation is clear," Falk said. "It's an uphill battle to get where we need to be . . . but it starts with great journalism."

He cited outstanding journalism as a key component in accomplishing the paper's goals and noted the large number of journalism awards The Chronicle has received in recent weeks.

Falk started his newspaper career as a teenager working in the packaging center at his hometown newspaper in Lancaster, Pa. He continued working there while he attended Elizabethton College, where he earned a degree in psychology.

He moved around after that, working in the circulation departments of small newspapers, including the Ithaca (N.Y.) Journal, the Berwick (Pa.) Enterprise and the Times Leader in Martins Ferry, Ohio.

He worked for Gannett Corp.'s Westchester-Rockland Newspapers in the suburbs of New York City and also helped start USA Today. He came to the San Francisco Newspaper Agency in 1987 as circulation director.

Falk continued to rise through the ranks and became president of the agency in 1996. He helped lead a reorganization of the newspaper's business operations.